Internal, external threats keep national alert level at ‘yellow’

The security risk in Burma is to be kept keep at the “yellow” level due to internal and external terrorism threats, according to police authorities in Naypyidaw.

Deputy Regional Police Chief Zaw Khin Aung attributed the decision in part to the apparent threat posed by members of the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), of whom there are around 200 in the country, he told reporters.

“We have received information that 300 RSO members who trained in India are trying to get into our country. It is no secret. Everybody knows. The Indian army has arrested 100 of them. Two hundred are missing. They can access Burma country via two routes, particularly via the Kalay-Tamu route and the route to Maung Taw. We have been keeping checks on these routes,” he said.

There are also threats from inside the country, according to Zaw Khin Aung.

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“We can not say there would never be a terrorist act inside the country. Some agree on the peace process. Some don’t. For example, there are destructive elements in the Karen National Union. Similarly, there is a treat from Laogai [or Laukkai, in the Kokang Special Region]. They have been pressured militarily. They lost many of their people, so they may try to divert attention. To be mindful of these threats, we must keep the alert level at ‘yellow’.”

Police are paying extra attention to the upcoming water festival Thingyan, and extra security measures are in place at border entrance points as the “Taliban” terrorist group expands their organisation in Asia, he added.